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Is it just me, or do you ever feel too busy? We have so much to accomplish, so much to communicate, so much on our calendar. We have the all the advancements of the twenty-first century to make our life easier, but often we feel more isolated than connected, more spiritually impoverished than filled.
Big changes happen in our lives: children grow up and leave home, we change jobs and homes, our own bodies become less capable as the years go by. Often we do not have a formal means of honoring these changes and so we hurry right through them and we are on to the next thing. If we paused and consciously celebrated the changes of our lives, our experience and appreciation of each stage would deepen and we would feel enriched and fully willing and able to move to our next expression with energy and joy.
I am dedicated to facilitating life changes through the use of personal, family, and community ritual. Through ritual we can acknowledge that changes are happening to us on every level as we move through life’s transitions. Our insides can keep pace with our outsides.
Recently a friend of mine in mid-life had to have her two remaining teeth removed. Her last two natural teeth were her lower canines, which were too weak to hold her lower dental plate. She was preparing to have oral surgery in which metal implants were to be installed where the two teeth had been, which would then be the foundation for porcelain caps, which in turn would hold the lower plate in place.
Although, she had had all her other teeth removed earlier in life, these last two were extremely difficult for her to release. She resisted the procedure as long as she could. The last two teeth meant more to her than simply two weakened canines. In some personal and mysterious way, they
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reminded her of a collection of disappointments in her life - of dreams that had not manifested, regrets in the raising of her children, and current circumstances in her life that were unfulfilling. On the other hand, she was also at a time in her life that was opening with wonderful new possibilities, and she wanted to be consciously aware of divine guidance, so that the best course of action could be followed.
I suggested that she turn this dental procedure into a personal ritual of life changing releasing and accepting. She was excited to do this. I suggested that she make a list of all the disappointments, memories, and self-judgments she had that no longer served her. She was to request her two extracted teeth from the dentist. Then she was to put them with the list and ceremonially dispose of the list and the teeth in a way that was spiritually satisfying to her. The teeth would become the bearers of her former disappointments away from her current experience of life.
Additionally, during the procedure, as the dentist installed the little metal centers of her new teeth into her jaw, she was to imagine that they became little antennae, able to receive the ideas of Divine Wisdom. By this procedure she would literally be rewired to catch the impress of Spirit.
This ritual transpired just as we had envisioned. During her procedure and convalescence, my friend was able to release the sadness that had held her in bondage and open to the urgings of the Infinite that directed her to new expression. I know that the magnitude of the dental surgery and the sincerity of her intentions, combined ritually, worked together for an experience of transformation and freedom. Such is the power of personal sacred ritual.
Karyl Huntley is a minister of Religious Science and the author of Real Life Rituals, a book of personal and group ceremonies for life transitions and seasonal holidays. |
